Tidal wave of spambots attacks SMF 1.1.x - How to protect your forum

[Grue67]

I have a pretty small forum and got hit by SpamBots.  I'm the only knowledgeable admin, so it was up to me to find them and remove them.  After increasing security and researching IP ranges to ban, I really got tired of them still showing up and registering.

Then I read about the reasons why the SpamBots are registering:  they are there to post links in their profile so that the search engine bots will see them and follow the links and give their website a higher index ranking.

I went in and disabled the options for guests to read the member list and look at member profiles.

I havent had one spam bot register now for over three months.

[angiexx1]

Yeay Daryy is human googled his name and came accross one post that he had done.

But I always check as much as I can before letting anyone in unless I know them as well as possible,

[Akyhne]

He's been busy:
http://www.google.dk/search?q=View+the+profile+of+daryy&num=100&hl=da&lr=&as_qdr=all&sa=2

He even registered at SM

[Oldiesmann]

Odd... He's never posted here and hasn't even been online since he registered almost 2 1/2 months ago.

[Akyhne]

I was thinking on the backup community of SMF. i didn't even check if he was in here. But the guy is no good, or he knows a lot of languages. Just take a look on all the forums he registered in.

[JimM]

Odd... He's never posted here and hasn't even been online since he registered almost 2 1/2 months ago.

Could be because he can't add his links in the signature till he posts 10 times.  I watched him close when he registered at my site because he got there by googling "Powered by SMF 1.1.7"+"game".  That was about 3 days before the 1.1.8 update was released.

[sbroadbent]

As a note I decided to install the "reCAPTCHA for SMF" mod and as far as I know it's stopped the bots from registering and spamming.

[Vampy]

If this has been posted before than I apologise, as I have only recently seen this thread so did not use any of the options given here to stop the attack  - I thought it was just me LOL

When I was attacked I installed the Stop Spammer mod and it worked - stopped the attack in it's tracks, with 50+ registration attempts blocked and several others set to awaiting approval.

[dreado]

Does anyone have a way of removing accounts (and topics and posts) in bulk? Going through hundreds of pages of spam and removing each one at a time is a pain

Edit: What I think would be nice (if anyone wants to make a mod), is to have a check box next to each topic so admin can select multiple topics and then have the option to remove selected topics or remove topics and authors account.

[Akyhne]

Edit: What I think would be nice (if anyone wants to make a mod), is to have a check box next to each topic so admin can select multiple topics and then have the option to remove selected topics or remove topics and authors account.

That is possible in SMF 2.0. I don't think anyone will make something similar in a soon to be outdated software.

[Aleksi "Lex" Kilpinen]

Edit: What I think would be nice (if anyone wants to make a mod), is to have a check box next to each topic so admin can select multiple topics and then have the option to remove selected topics or remove topics and authors account.

That is possible in SMF 2.0. I don't think anyone will make something similar in a soon to be outdated software.

Deleting multiple topics is possible in 1.x as well, but deleting the topic authors at the same time is not. Although, you can delete multiple user at once as well, but you just have to do it from the admin cp.

[dreado]

Deleting multiple topics is possible in 1.x

How do you do this?

[Aleksi "Lex" Kilpinen]

Deleting multiple topics is possible in 1.x

How do you do this?

1) From your profile -> Look and Layout Preferences -> Show quick-moderation on message index as
- Checkboxes
2) Go to the topic listing, and you will see checkboxes on the right side of topics.
3) Tick the topics you want to delete
4) From the pull down menu in the bottom, select "Remove selected" and press go.

[dreado]

Thanks

[Neighbours-Unite]

I just had a look at those mods so we can keep those ******heads out
but with all of them it tels me this;
Compatible With: 1.1.4, 1.1.5, 1.1.7, 2.0 Beta 3 Public, 2.0 Beta 3.1 Public

I am running smf 1.1.8 any idea if those mods will work on that??
I'm asking because I'm not a coder and don't want to screw up.
( as I have done b4 )


GMax. 

[Akyhne]

Which mods?

[青山 素子]

If the mods claim compatibility with 1.1.7, they should work fine, you may just need to fool them into thinking it's 1.1.7. Almost anything compatible with 1.1.3 or newer should still work on 1.1.8.

[DollBaby]

The "Questions" mod should work well on my 1.1.8 SMF+TP religious boards.  These boards are targeted more than the gaming boards I work on. 
I'll let yawl know. 

Thanks so much for what you guys do.  Hope to send send support soon.

www.studio414.net
www.meowworld.com

[X-Seti]

I have noticed this, from ip range (65.55.XXX.XXX)

They seem to be targeting report to moderator, just as well that does not work on my boards.

Thanks for the info.

[Aleksi "Lex" Kilpinen]

I have noticed this, from ip range (65.55.XXX.XXX)

That is Microsoft IP -range, so probably a search engine doing it's job and following links on your board